Map 12.3 AFRICA

Image Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world- factbook/docs/refmaps.html

2.1. Background and Evolution

♤ Geologically, peninsular India was once part of Africa, the fused ‘Super-Continent’ called ‘Gondwanaland’. Some 200 million years ago when the continental drift started, the region broke away from the African continent and pushed in a north-easterly direction till it joined South Asia.

♤ Trade and contacts through the Indian Ocean route and Arabian Peninsula have connected East coast of Africa and India for centuries.

♤ Trade relations between India and Africa can be traced back to the first century CE, when the Aksum empire had been established in what is modern day Ethiopia and Eritrea.